Flickr upgrades to an HTML 5 friendly uploader

Flickr has been a beacon for Yahoo, and its revitalization didn’t end at Aviary integration. Today Flickr announced its new HTML 5 uploader, which translates to faster upload times (between 20-30 and 50-60 percent faster, depending on your global location) and options to caption, tag, alter privacy settings and the like while your photos are in transition. It’s worth mentioning that in our brief hands-on time, the new version was much faster than the previous and in-transition editing was incredibly responsive.

Perhaps one of the new uploaders best features, however, is drag and drop. It’s been a long time coming for the photo sharing platform, but better late than never. With the new system, you’ll be able to reorganize thumbnails while they are uploading so everything’s ship-shape once they’re up and online.

The veteran site is also fighting back against competition for its premium users. Last month, challenger 500px undercut Flickr’s pro subscription prices by $5 – and the hiss of “Flickr Killer” could be heard through the Internet. But Flickr will see that play for user pockets and counter with increase file size limits. Now, pro users get up to 50MB and free users up to 30MB, a godsend for high-res images.

Flickr has stood its ground as a pillar for digital photography enthusiasts, despite increasing heat from competitors and failing to capture mobile as quickly as it should have. Despite these hiccups (and being under the Yahoo umbrella, which, let’s face it, isn’t doing anybody many favors right now), it’s managed to provide relevant updates for users. It’s probably guilty of being a little late to the game with these new iterations of its service, but its an established home for photographers’ work and the new uploader and file size limits should keep them happy. The new uploader will be introduced over the coming weeks.